By Friedrich Schiller, adapted by Peter Oswald. Directed by Antoni Cimolino. Until Sept. 21 at the Tom Patterson Theatre. 1-800-567-1600.

STRATFORD, ONT.—This is why we go to the theatre.

The production of Mary Stuart that opened at the Stratford Festival on Friday night is the kind of high-quality work that could proudly stand on any stage in the world. Antoni Cimolino’s first show as Stratford’s artistic director is a solid success.

The play, written by the German author Friedrich Schiller 300 years ago about the struggle between two monarchs in the British Isles more than 500 years ago, manages to say more incisive things about the political climate today than many contemporary works.

That it does so in a format that is both electrifyingly entertaining and intellectually exciting is a tribute to Cimolino, as well as to the stellar members of the Stratford company he’s gathered around him.

You might think you know the story of Mary, Queen of Scots and her struggle for the throne of England with Elizabeth I, but in Peter Oswald’s brilliant adaptation, it all acquires new meaning.

We are now in a world all too familiar to us after Sept. 11, where the guilty are judged without trial, the threat of terrorism makes justice fly out the window and our leaders rule by paranoia rather than divine right.

Except for a moat of barbed wire separating the cast from the audience, and a few contemporary dark-suited security guards briefly visible at the beginning and end, Cimolino lets the play and his cast make the connections and they do a splendid job on their own.

Has Lucy Peacock ever given a better performance than she does here as the manipulative yet vulnerable Mary? She demonstrates admirable control, but still manages to convey every single shade of emotion as the woman who once was the betrayer and now is the betrayed.

Opposite her, Seana McKenna delivers all the mercurial moods the part requires: petulant, furious, loving, needing, conniving, demanding. At one moment, the imperious ruler, then suddenly the querulous lover. McKenna has always been good in roles of command, but it’s the way that she falls apart here that is extraordinary.

One expects two great central female performances at the heart of a production of Mary Stuart, but it’s the across-the-board brilliance of the male members of the company that truly dazzles and makes you realize the strength of the Stratford ensemble.

The role of Paulet, for example, could be deadly dull: an honourable functionary in charge of protecting Mary in prison. But James Blendick, delivering his best work in recent years, turns him into a passionate man of conscience, fighting for what he believes in.

Ben Carlson steps back from his customary leading man status to do amazing things with the role of Lord Burleigh, the “watchdog” of Elizabeth’s reign, the one who sniffs a terrorist plot everywhere. Relentless in his paranoia, yet somehow endearing in his devotion, Carlson makes him a complex character.

Then there’s Geraint Wyn Davies, who already earned his most valuable player award this week for his astonishing turn as the Duke in Measure for Measure. He tackles the Earl of Leicester and gives us every element of that vain, tortured man. Davies has the ability to charm one moment, then go for the throat in the next and that quality is on splendid display here.

Brian Dennehy graciously steps into the supporting role of the Earl of Shrewsbury, but fills it superbly, creating the one man of true reason in this kingdom of knee-jerk excess. His calm solidity is a joy to behold.

The most surprising discovery is the Mortimer of Ian Lake, which catapults him up to the A-list of company members. He’s always been a good, solid performer in romantic or comic roles, but here he’s been given a truly meaty opportunity and he falls on it like a famished wolf.

Every aspect of the religious fanatic willing to die for his faith is contained in Lake’s virtuoso performance: the passion, the insanity, the devotion, the vision. You believe he could just as easily have detonated a bomb at the Boston Marathon as assassinate an Elizabethan monarch.

Mary Stuart is exciting theatre, but it’s also important theatre. The combination is unbeatable. This is the must-see show of the summer.

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